Jasmine Story – Snippet 4

The background story sets up the dynamic for the third book. The seed/soul of a dark force is hidden within an egg, placed within a nest on top of a mountain. There is no way to get to this mountain except by crossing the Valley of Fear. No mortal man has been able to survive the mirroring of his own terror.

The powerful wizard, Erlkyng, knowing the destruction of the Mid-Realm and beyond is immanent as long as the egg exists, explores the possibilities. Finally, he settles upon a plan which will take many years to flower. He calls up the air elemental “Arial” who agrees to take on physical form long enough to conceive with a mortal King and give birth to a child.

The child, being born of air and earth, when grown would be able to pass through the Valley of Fear unimpeded. With the help of his female assistant, the Wizard Erlkyng exchanges his life-force to give a physical embodiment to Arial, whose strange and delicate beauty is otherworldly. The King of UR immediately falls in love with her and brings her to his castle along with her constant female companion — Erlkyng’s assistant.

In physical form, Arial is not strong. But she gives birth to a healthy girl baby before phasing back to her original airy form. The companion stays as a nurse to the baby and sings lullabies of magical incantations.

As I remember, I think these are notes to myself regarding the arc of the story plot. It’s the explanation of the beginning story, to be told as a flashback and establishes the plot of the greater story.

The caption accompanying the published version of the calligraphied image appearing above states: Done with gouache on Invicta paper, the text is part of a fable written by the artist. (16 x 12 in)